Management Websites: The Best Skills Sites Part 1

There are now a large number of outstanding websites where you can find tips, techniques, and advice on learning management and personal development skills. Not only is the information excellently presented, it is also freely available. The only drawback is finding it. Some of the best sites don't appear in the search engines or skills directories. So we've taken it upon ourselves to help you locate the best of the best. Starting with the first 5 skills, we'll point you to the sites that we think you should be studying, visiting, and bookmarking when you need that tip or insight to help you manage better.

The top 5 appraisal skills are: understanding the purpose of performance appraisal; using appraisal to develop staff; managing under-performance; motivating staff who have stalled; and running an effective appraisal meeting. 3 excellent sites that will help you learn these skills are:

a. a comprehensive outline of traditional and negotiated appraisal here from the University of California, Berkeley.

b. a series of chapters on appraising staff from JobsDB, starting here with Effective Staff Appraisals

c. the appraisals.naukrihub.com site provides a lot of excellent material on appraisals, from processes to the balanced scorecard method, traditional to modern approaches, and much more. Kick off here.

Best Skill Sites: Assertiveness

The top 5 assertiveness skills are: learning to be more confident; relating to others assertively; resolving conflict through win-win; managing staff fairly and respectfully; and becoming more attractive through social assertiveness. 3 sites that will help you become more assertive are:

a. from howto.co.uk, here is a superb summary of 8 ways to become more assertive as part of the "Be Your Own Life Coach" series

b. here is a great slideshow on Conflict Resolution Styles from Wisc-Online

c. take an Assertiveness quiz at about.com to find out how you usually relate to others.

Best Skill Sites: Change Management

The top 5 change management skills are: making a business case for change; selling change to others; adopting the right mindset for change; taking others with you; and leading others through change. Here are 3 impressive sites that will help you learn these skills.

a. start with "The Two Faces of Change" as part of managing personal change on the lessons4living.com site here

c. take a look at this training video from Cisco for an entertaining look at change in organizations.

Best Skill Sites: Communications

The top 5 communication skills are: mastering 1-way presentational skills; succeeding with 2-way communication through listening and feedback; building rapport with others; communicating with all levels in the workforce; and using and understanding body language. Here are 3 sites that will help you learn these skills.

a. this lesson plan from the Centre for Literacy Studies will explain the difference between 1 and 2-way communication

b. click here for an excellent 20-page pdf on how managers communicate

The top 5 counselling skills are: understanding the value of the counselling approach to solving people problems; running an effective counselling session; using listening and questioning skills; confronting employees; and enabling win-win solutions. Here are 3 sites that will give you some key skills in helping others.

a. here is part one of a podcast from manager-tools on how to prepare yourself to deal with a staff member who has a personal crisis

b. click here for a stablemate to the bodylanguageexpert that will take you through The Counsellor's Guide.

c. here's another great series of lessons from howto.co.uk, this time on learning to counsel.

Look out for the next feature in this series when we'll look at another 5 skills and skill sites.